AUTHOR=Lo Cantore Pietro , Giorgio Annalisa , Iacobellis Nicola S. 

TITLE=Bioactivity of volatile organic compounds produced by Pseudomonas tolaasii

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Microbiology

VOLUME=6

YEAR=2015

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/microbiology/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2015.01082

DOI=10.3389/fmicb.2015.01082

ISSN=1664-302X

ABSTRACT=<p><italic>Pseudomonas tolaasii</italic> is the main bacterial pathogen of several mushroom species. In this paper we report that strains of <italic>P. tolaasii</italic> produce volatile substances inducing <italic>in vitro</italic> mycelia growth inhibition of <italic>Pleurotus ostreatus</italic> and <italic>P. eryngii</italic>, and <italic>Agaricus bisporus</italic> and <italic>P. ostreatus</italic> basidiome tissue blocks brown discoloration. <italic>P. tolaasii</italic> strains produced the volatile ammonia but not hydrogen cyanide. Among the volatiles detected by GC–MS, methanethiol, dimethyl disulfide (DMDS), and 1-undecene were identified. The latter, when assayed individually as pure compounds, led to similar effects noticed when <italic>P. tolaasii</italic> volatiles natural blend was used on mushrooms mycelia and basidiome tissue blocks. Furthermore, the natural volatile mixture resulted toxic toward lettuce and broccoli seedling growth. In contrast, pure volatiles showed different activity according to their nature and/or doses applied. Indeed, methanethiol resulted toxic at all the doses used, while DMDS toxicity was assessed till a quantity of 1.25 μg, below which it caused, together with 1-undecene (≥10 μg), broccoli growth increase.</p>